Human rights

An MP charged with sexual assault successfully applied to withhold his home address from open court in R v Spencer [2025] Lexis Citation 2032. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of Leicester De Montfort Law School examines the ruling and its implications for the open justice principle

From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics

Sadie Whittam considers the growing use of SLAPPs & the abuse of the litigation process

The case of Caster Semenya highlights the disadvantages faced by athletes under mandatory sports arbitration systems: Dr Estelle Ivanova sets out the need for greater oversight

In Semenya v Switzerland, the European Court of Human Rights found that Switzerland violated Caster Semenya’s right to a fair hearing by failing to rigorously review a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling that upheld discriminatory testosterone regulations. Dr Estelle Ivanova of Valloni Attorneys at Law examines the ruling, in which the court criticised the structural imbalance in international sports arbitration where athletes face mandatory arbitration under rules set by powerful governing bodies, in this week's NLJ

Graham Zellick KC questions a decision of the European Court of Human Rights on religious freedom

The European Court of Human Rights’ 2024 ruling in Executief van de Moslims van België v Belgium upheld a Belgian ban on ritual slaughter without pre-stunning. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC of Middle Temple critiques its judgment

How has a phrase that appears nowhere in the supreme law of the US managed to become part of it? Athelstane Aamodt considers the history

Neil Parpworth considers whether electing a new party leader is a public law function for the purposes of the Human Rights Act 1998?

Writing in NLJ this week, Zoë Chapman, criminal barrister at Red Lion Chambers, critiques the Supreme Court’s ruling in For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers